NTUC Foodfare clarified on 7 April that one of its workers had imported face mask in bulks for resale without the company’s knowledge, after a video of face masks being repacked in the open behind a Foodfare truck went viral on social media.
Earlier on 6 April, three individuals were seen sorting face masks in the open without taking hygienic precautions behind an NTUC Foodfare truck. The video was posted by Facebook user Dee Umairah who witnessed the incident on Saturday (4 April) at Woodlands Avenue 6.
In the video, two men and a woman were seen repacking face masks with their bare hands. One of the men ripped open a packet of masks, removed the masks from its packaging, and placed the masks in a white box.
There were several white boxes that were placed on the ground and the truck was open with three more sealed boxes of mask stocks.
Ms Umairah also posted a few photos of the incidents, including a photo of the plate number of the truck. She captioned, “Am not here to shame them am just sharing look at where they repack the face mask is that the correct protocol to handle a mask was shock to see them doing these.. They are not local tho..”
In response to the post, NTUC Foodfare later posted on Facebook on 6 April saying that the incident was being investigated, adding that the company will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against any errant employee including reporting to the police for further investigation if needed.
It also clarified that the masks in the photos do not belong to NTUC Foodfare, and are not meant for staff or customers.
“We will like to thank the Facebook user for helping to shed light on this matter especially during such critical period in the nation’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” it stated.
Following that, on 7 April, NTUC Foodfare released a statement on Facebook that it has identified the worker, stating that the worker and his partners had imported face masks in bulk for resale to individual buyers at a profit.
The worker did not declare this sideline nor sought approval from the company.
NTUC Foodfare further noted that the worker used the truck that he was driving in the course of his duty to transport the face mask stocks without the company’s knowledge.
“His actions had breached the company’s code of conduct and had caused public alarm during this health crisis as well as cast doubt to the integrity of our standards and operations,” it asserted.
NTUC Foodfare added that the management has taken stern disciplinary action against the worker and he has also acknowledged his misconduct.
“We would like to assure members of the public that the face masks shown in the video and photos did not belong to NTUC Foodfare and neither were they meant for our staff nor customers,” NTUC said.